


Circles in Cyrodiil

by Gearpunk



Category: Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
Genre: Daedra, F/M, Gen, Lycanthropes, Vampires
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-01-01
Updated: 2013-01-01
Packaged: 2017-11-23 21:02:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,243
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/626486
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gearpunk/pseuds/Gearpunk
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is really old... Peace is the last thing found in the Province of Cyrodiil. A menace placed the Imperial City under complete lock down; driving out the Thieves Guild, driving fear into the Chancellor and bringing fear into everyone. Said to have been controlling the city from his depths since before the Oblivion Crisis. </p><p>Now it's war. A master thief happened across our Vampire and now he's playing a game of chess with the Thief as she travels across Cyrodiil, always remaining one step ahead of him.</p><p>Vampire to Vampire, thief to thief. One is hundreds of years old and the other only so skilled.... To make matters worse our Thief is stuck running from a Lycanthrope not of this Province. Who are these people and why have they come into her life. As if being framed for murder and conspiracy wasn't enough...</p><p>Who's coming out of this alive?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Circles in Cyrodiil

**Author's Note:**

> IMPORTANT; I am without access to a working computer. I'll have up to 3 chapters done by the time I can post more and this prologue will be... heartier? In any case, stay tuned...
> 
> Takes place after the Oblivion Crisis has been taken care of.  
> Hieronymus Lex has been sent to Anvil.  
> The Champion of Cyrodiil is present, but NOT the main focus.  
> And he's a rich bastard.

**PROLOGUE  
** Frostfall, 3E 433

Sketched out posters, worn away by weather, hung feebly to the walls of the great stone city.

The sky was heavy with dusk as the sun was departing, leaving the sky a deep shade of blue. It was a beautiful clear night that was upon them, however quiet it may be. A few homeless people were poking around corners and hiding in the back alley ways, hiding from the City Watch. The reason for the odd behaviour was that a curfew had recently been laid out for those who weren’t wealthy enough to pay the guards to look the other way; the unlucky few who thought them strong enough to take on the terror of the City.

The posters; on it was the face of a man unknown to most. The reward was a remarkable number yet not a single person dare to lift a finger to help in the man hunt. They were hunting a man; a vampire. Normally cases like these aren’t usually an issue and the perpetrators are often brought down fast. Yet this man, this vile creature, has become somewhat illusive and has grown from being a menace, to terrorist, to possibly the second worst epidemic since the Oblivion Crisis just a short few months ago. He would lure people in and essentially change them.

Now, one would simply think, _Why not just capture and question the victims, right?_

So far the guards have delt with three different kind of victims, and seeing as the effect takes three days to kick in... It's a stupid society. The few that turn themselves in either have not eaten yet or have blood on their hands - literally. The ones who are hungry would burst into a rabid rage and attempt to kill, resulting in them being killed. The ones who have eaten usually have blood on them are slaughtered on the spot. The people lucky enough to have approached the guards within the three days have proven helpful but only to an extent. The time and place of which the victim is infected is a complete blur; or so vague that the Guard cannot work with the information. Those lucky few are healed and held in a cell for protection of themselves and others until further notice.

A lot of the time the folk will turn to the Tiber Septim Inn as the place they last remember, however, the proof is lacking in great numbers. No blood, no signs of struggle, nothing. Not even a recollection of how they got into the Inn. A few of the maids would claim that they came in alone, or they were with someone else that had been in a dark cloak, but the hidden man was always really tall.

In addition to all the fun going on at night, it wasn’t much of a help that the City Watch didn’t exactly hire the brightest of men for the job. The smartest ones were usually promoted to Captain and so on, but even their knowledge was limited. As long as you can wave a sword, axe or hammer and have a high enough skill rank in heavy armor the job is as good as yours. Look at Hieronymus Lex. Smart fellow, that one...

Then of course you have the homeless people and the illusive Grey Fox. This head Vampire has been bribing them with their lives and taking their money in order to keep their mouths shut. Their master wasn’t about to let his crew of homeless become harmed, so they made a deal. Fox and his crew are left alone so long as they pay the Vampire off with the little money they make and keep their mouths shut. A large handful of the homeless have abandoned the Fox and left the city completely and the few that remain are doing their best to leave.

In the little amount of information they –the City Watch – managed to receive, they’ve found out the Vampire has no intent on killing anyone directly, but to lure into the depth to transform them. They know he’s little – really little – and a Redguard, potentially half Bosmer. What the Watch isn’t quite aware of is how much the odds are stacked against them.

So it was safe to say that the Imperial City was in need of some minor assistance. In some cases, however, the lovely Chancellor Ocato had some of the cities send out a Call to Arms to several of the surrounding provinces for assistance of the Oblivion Crisis. The Chancellor had received several rejection notices claiming that the gates were opening not only in Cyrodiil, and to deal with it himself. Black Marsh, Valenwood and Skyrim, however, sent in their letters claiming a little bit of help was on the way. At the same time Ocato was dancing around on the insides, the Hero of Kvatch was saving Cyrodiil and became the Champion; They no longer needed the provinces help. This brings us back to the beginning. Witnesses claim that this Vampire had been doing this long before hand and became strong whilst everyone was busy fighting off the Daedra. The killings became a serious problem shortly after, and the disturbing part is the fact that the Vampire himself isn’t the killer, but his _offspring._ The people he turns are the people who kill as they lack knowledge of basic Vampire survival skills. He will often hide them away from the three days it takes for Porphyria Hemophilia to kick in fully or he’ll throw them out instantly and watch them squirm from the safety of his hideout – wherever that may be. These are all merely claims of those who have encountered him and lived long enough to tell someone about it.

In regards to the people who have been sent word for help, Ocato had sent up some few messengers to spread the word that they were no longer in need of assistance, however, only the Valenwood messenger has returned home safely. Skyrim and Black Marsh have yet to send word back, and if Black Marsh doesn’t get the message then the potential for a fight becomes high. Argonians and Khajiit tend to make a habit of pointing fingers at one another and make false accusations. As the Khajiit are skilled hunters, there is room for the Lizard men to believe that the Cat people of Elsweyr would intentionally intercept the messengers for their own amusement, and in their defense the Khajiit would most likely throw more insults to coal the fire and a brutal fight would break out. That is, however, the worst that could happen and everyone would agree that it’s safe to avoid it. At all cost… Several messengers have been sent to the Black Marsh to no avail. It’s been about 6 weeks and still no sign of the messengers and no one has been lining up for the jobs. It’s a really big confusing mess and the people of the great citadel claim Ocato is merely jumping to conclusions and should just drop the subject all together.

As for Skyrim, they claimed that they would be sending a good three hundred men. With the messenger missing, however, Ocato is more or less worried his streets would be filled with angry drunk Nords pissing everywhere and keeping the locals up all night. On the other hand this might actually be just what they need to flush out the scumbag.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Just a little disclaimer for you;  
> Obviously I don't own the characters from the Elder Scrolls Series or the series itself.  
> But most of all, as you'll see when the chapters roll in, you'll notice a pattern.  
> I'm obsessed with the Song of Ice and Fire novels, so I've constructed this into the same Chapter format as Martin did with his novels. So Construction kudos goes to him!


End file.
